NPR: David Welna

Having previously covered Congress over a 13-year period starting in 2001, Welna reported extensively on matters related to national security. He covered the debates on Capitol Hill over authorizing the use of military force prior to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the expansion of government surveillance practices arising from Congress' approval of the USA Patriot Act. Welna also reported on congressional probes into the use of torture by U.S. officials interrogating terrorism suspects. He also traveled with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Afghanistan on the Pentagon chief's first overseas trip in that post.

In mid-1998, after 15 years of reporting from abroad for NPR, Welna joined NPR's Chicago bureau. During that posting, he reported on a wide range of issues: changes in Midwestern agriculture that threaten the survival of small farms, the personal impact of foreign conflicts and economic crises in the heartland, and efforts to improve public education. His background in Latin America informed his coverage of the saga of Elian Gonzalez both in Miami and Cuba.

Welna first filed stories for NPR as a freelancer in 1982, based in Buenos Aires. From there, and subsequently from Rio de Janeiro, he covered events throughout South America. In 1995, Welna became the chief of NPR's Mexico bureau.

Additionally, he has reported for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Financial Times, and The Times of London. Welna's photography has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and The PhiladelphiaInquirer.

Covering a wide range of stories in Latin America, Welna chronicled the wrenching 1985 trial of Argentina's former military leaders who presided over the disappearance of tens of thousands of suspected dissidents. In Brazil, he visited a town in Sao Paulo state called Americana where former slaveholders from America relocated after the Civil War. Welna covered the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, the mass exodus of Cubans who fled the island on rafts in 1994, the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, and the U.S. intervention in Haiti to restore Jean Bertrand Aristide to Haiti's presidency.

Welna was honored with the 2011 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress, given by the National Press Foundation. In 1995, he was awarded an Overseas Press Club award for his coverage of Haiti. During that same year he was chosen by the Latin American Studies Association to receive their annual award for distinguished coverage of Latin America. Welna was awarded a 1997 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. In 2002, Welna was elected by his colleagues to a two-year term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Congressional Radio-Television Correspondents' Galleries.

A native of Minnesota, Welna graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in Northfield, MN, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and distinction in Latin American Studies. He was subsequently a Thomas J. Watson Foundation fellow. He speaks fluent Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

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3:00pm

Politics

The House voted Friday on two resolutions addressing concern that President Obama has not sought congressional approval for military operations in Libya. One sponsored by Speaker John Boehner says the president has not given Congress a compelling rationale for the operations. It was adopted. The other was not adopted: It was offered by Democrat Dennis Kucinich and would give the president 15 days to remove forces from Libya.

3:00pm

Politics

Last week, Democrats in the Senate forced Republicans to vote on a House GOP proposal that would make controversial changes to Medicare. On Tuesday, the Republicans who run the House are forcing Democrats to vote on raising the debt ceiling without addressing the deficit spending that drove up the debt.

That vote, too, is bound to fail — which is precisely what Republicans want.

3:00pm

Politics

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lawmakers on Capitol Hill jumping to their feet repeatedly Tuesday to applaud him as he addressed a joint meeting of Congress. For the Israeli leader, it was a chance both to thank them for their unswerving support and to lay down a hard line on any new peace talks with the Palestinians.

8:00am

Politics

"Cut spending!" has been Congressional Republicans' battle cry this year. They have indeed managed to cut far more in the budget battles than Democrats might have wanted, but when it comes to the biggest chunk of spending that lawmakers actually do have a say over, the Pentagon budget, it's a different story. NPR's David Welna reports.

Many lawmakers, Republican or Democrat, might sooner take a salary cut than vote to raise the debt ceiling. But Tim Walz is not one of them. He's a third-term Democratic congressman from southern Minnesota, and the only member of Congress who has returned to the Treasury every salary increase he's received. Walz is also making no bones about his desire to lift the limit on the national debt.

4:00am

Politics

Congress left town a week ago having settled one budget fight that keeps the government funded until October. But more epic battles are in store when lawmakers get back early next month. In the meantime, some are holding town hall meetings in their districts to hear from constituents and defend recent votes. NPR's David Welna went to the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania this week, where he found freshman GOP Rep. Pat Meehan doing five town halls in one day.